Details emerge about Roman Polanski's life in Swiss prison

With Roman Polanski set to be released on bail, new details are emerging about his time behind bars.

An inmate who served time in the same Swiss prison said the famed director received special treatment.

In an interview with Zurich's Radio One, Yussi Akram said Polanski was able to regularly call his wife and attorneys and communicated frequently with guards at the prison outside the city. Akram also said Polanski's cell was equipped with a special emergency button he could use to summon guards.

Polanski has been at the prison for two months, ever since Swiss authorities arrested him on a warrant related to a three-decade-old child sex case in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, a close friend of the director's said Polanski is depressed and has lost 30 pounds.

"His fear of the U.S. verges on panic and he has lived with that fear for so long that it's become obsessive," director Janusz Morgenstern told a Polish radio station, according to ABC News. He added Polanski's children have been pulled out of school in part because of taunts from other children.

Polanski is expected to be released in the next few days after a Swiss court granted the director bail.

The court based its decision on Polanski's pledge of $4.5-million bail along with what the court called supporting measures, including electronic monitoring, which would alert the authorities if he tried to leave home or remove a monitoring bracelet.

Polanski is expected to stay at his Alpine chalet.

Legal experts say the bail probably will lengthen the battle over whether Polanski should be extradited to Los Angeles to face sentencing for having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old at Jack Nicholson's home. The decision also raises other questions, given that Polanski fled from the United States just before his sentencing in 1978. Swiss justice officials repeatedly have denied his bail requests, saying he is a flight risk.

Swiss officials told Reuters that they don't think Polanski will be released for a couple of days.

-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[None]

Put the deviate away for life

[Jack The Ripper]

See money DOES buy everything. This guy should be castrated....

[erica stephens]

Oh!,I do feel sorry for Polanski,s children.They have a father who raped a child and a mother who married a child rapist.

[Paul]

He is a child rapest the worst and most hate of all crimnal.

There is no time limit for raping a child he knows what he did was wrong then and now. That is why the coward has been on the run for so long.He need to come and pay the price just like everyone else that is convicted of a crime.

I feel sorry for his children they are being becuase of his action he has no one to blame but his sick self!!!!!!!!!!

[Cheryl]

If there is only one gun in Switzerland ready it for his final release.

[erica stephens]

I really feel sorry for the children of Roman Polanski....Their father is a child rapist and their mother willingly and knowingly married a child rapist.

[Michelle Hernandez]

Hey Mr Hollywood Elite, here is a plot for your next movie. A diabolical Hollywood director drugs and sodomizes a 13-year old girl. Then flees like a coward and lives the life of luxury. Your supporting cast could be some more Hollywood "Elite", Whoopi Goldberg, Woody Allen, Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Debra Winger, Michael Mann, Jon Landis. Can anyone else think of some more supporters? Also, if anyone can think of a good source of financing for this movie, please post.

[Bob in Santa Monica]

Wow. All these years have passed, and all that bribe money paid to his victim, and still Polanski fears American Justice. I am having a serious moment of patriotic pride right now. Let's hope his fears are well justified, and that when he gets back to California he faces additional charges for flight and witness tampering.

[joe]

Fascinating, with enough money, a person can make a mockery of the legal system on two continents. Looks like another OJ is about to walk.

[Lin McKay]

I am sorry to learn that Polanski has special treatment. He is a rapist, sodomizer, of at least one child. He is a pedophile. I am sorry for his children but his wife knew, when she married him, that she was marrying a convicted rapist of children. To have children with Polanski is a decision she made and should have thought out the whole picture. Perhaps she would be smart to divorce the rapist and change their last names. I am very disappointed to learn about the change in stance on bail and wonder if there is money passing under the table (or throught the jail bars . . . ). At a minimum the Swiss government will likely get a bonus $4.5 million when Polanski jumps bail. Being behind bars Polanski is getting what he deserves, no more no less. Shame on the Swiss court for allowing freedom for a rapist. Better be sure Polanski doesn't lure one the village's young girl's into his chalet for a little sex education.

[MikeOHara]

He wouldn't have lived all this time with his panic about the US if he had faced the music 30 years ago. The crime would have been buried and forgotten by now; his career might even be more glorious had he been able to work in Hollywood all that time.

[marge]

Here in the US, "special" chosen ones receive better treatment. We keep hearing stories from jewish media how bernie madoff is "suffering" in jail but I highly doubt it if Bernie is in jail, they could make someone stand for him, and make an appearance every now and then. Its all a big show for them. Their motto is "perception is reality"

[unfair]

just goes to show, different justice for the rich and famous..

[Dave]

Why does this pedophile deserve anything like bail? He was convicted of raping a 13 year old girl after he drugged her and then fleeing the country to avoid serving his sentence! He is clearly a flight risk but he was granted bail simply because he is rich. He deserves to stay in jail until he is extradited back to L.A. to face a judge and get what he deserves which is State Prison and being forced to register as a sex offender. I'm so tired of these Hollywood "separatists" thinking they are better than the rest of us simply because they have money. What happened to "justice for all"?!!!

[Richard Ivey]

I'm sure glad that our government finally tracked down Roman Polanski instead of Osama bin Laden. I feel so much safer now.

[Yellowbird]

I think the people of Los Angeles should be ashamed of their headline grabbing district attorney.

How would HE feel if the MANSON FAMILY HACKED UP HIS FAMILY?

After which the MANSON FAMILY gets life and becomes celebrity prisoners infinitum and builds a body of cohorts within the prison system set to GET HIM?

Would this D.A. want to be imprisoned with the MANSON FAMILY after what THEY DID TO HIS FAMILY?

THAT is how Mr. Polanski feels. Couple this with his childhood background as a victim of Nazi Germany Liquidation Camps and you have a perfect defense of PTSD to the courts.

Jailing this man is indeed CRUEL AND UNREASONABLE PUNISHMENT.

The woman who is at question in this case DOES NOT WANT HIM PUNISHED.

The L.A. D.A. is angling for a political career by destroying Roman Polanski and riding the wave of publicity all the way into the White House I would imagine.

This is disgusting and stains the reputation of Los Angeles beyond repair.

It makes you all look like a bunch of vindictive unforgiving horrible people. Which is why I left and now live elsewhere.

[Ryan]

If you drug a 13 year old girl and force her to have sex with you that is rape and Polanski should be afraid. The guy should be going to jail for at least 25 years, but he will probably get a very favorable sentance because of the media hype on this case.

[mark]

Polansky should have been tried and convicted and just now been getting out of prison - instead of finally being brought to justice.

As a father with three daughters - I am stunned at the Hollwyood dismissal of a middle aged man getting a 13 year girl old drunk and drugged and then forcibly raping and sodomising her for hours.

What kind of people can rationalize this behavior??? What kind of money must it take to keep the women of Hollywood from speaking out about this???

How badly must Hollywood celebrities need their money and jobs and their cozy lifestyles that they would condone by ommission this sick mans behavior through their lack of support for his being extradicted and sent to prison?? Are they hoping he will caste them in his next movie?? How about we throw him in prison where he can practice his behavor with those that will appreciate him??

The entertainment industry continues to show why it is viewed as completely disconnected from the people it attempts to sell its products too. Only a sick and depraved culture could look the other way.

LA - I am very ashamed of you. What has become of your conscience?

[joe]

Yes, servants gently woke Roman up each morning with cafe au lait and croissants, handing him warmed cloths to clean himself.

Over here, most prisoners get gruel, but be sure to ask for seconds, cause its all the gruel you can eat.

[rOBERT]

A person gets a child drunk, Drugs the child, Rapes the Child. Why the French let this person walk freely around their own children, I will never understand. Now the Swiss will release him on bail. He WILL run back to France. Has his own children been interviewed by children services in France? Is he a registered Pedophile there? The person is a sexual predator and should have been treated like one. France is off of my list for everything now.

[Peanut88]

The same society who is trying to protect children, has now caused damage to Mr Polanski's children.

What is more important here? To come up with a "Guilty" or "Innocent" sticker to put on Mr Polanski's face, or for the entire human race to reflect on its own stupidity?

[Cletus]

I can't believe the media print this stuff. Who cares what this guy did in prison?

[jad]

Somehow, I'd feel a lot safer in a society of Roman Polanski's than in one full of the hysterical moralists posting here.